


Just Dust...

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AAAAAAAAAAA, IW SPOILERS GALORE, M/M, SERIOUSLY THIS IS JUST THE FIRST HALF OF ME PROCESSING ONE SCENE, well series of scenes kinda but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 21:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14458557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: This is just me processing the one heart wrenching scene, you know the one, in Infinity War by writing it out with a slightly more stucky twistcompanion-ish to...And Ashes





	Just Dust...

**Author's Note:**

> F U C K
> 
> THE ASHES SCENE HOLY F U C K  
> YOU CANT JUST _DO THAT_

Steve stared at the point where Thanos had been moments before. Thor stood next to him, panting heavily, his new axe lying bloodied on the ground. “Where is he?”

Any response Thor could have given him was forgotten when he heard unsteady footsteps behind him. “Steve?” Bucky’s voice was uncharacteristically shaky, holding a distinct note of fear in it. He turned to look at him. “Something’s wrong.” His eyes were wide and crazed, dilated so far he almost couldn’t see the blue. Bucky stumbled over nothing and dropped his gun, swaying slightly. Steve took a step forward to catch him if he fell and froze when what looked like ash drifted away from Bucky’s metal arm in the wind. 

They both looked at his arm. It was slowly turning from vibranium and gold to ashes. Concerned, he turned to find T’Challa and ask him what was happening when he noticed the ashes coming off Bucky’s other arm. Bucky noticed at the same time as him and brought his hands up. 

Steve stood frozen in horror as Bucky slowly dissolved into ashes. It worked up his limbs, brown and grey streaming away into the wind, his body falling into a pile on the dirt of the Wakandan forest. The last thing to go was his face, his frightened eyes burned into Steve’s retinas. 

Stumbling forward, Steve hesitantly crouched by the pile of ashes that used to be his best friend, his partner, his  _ world. _ One hand shakily reached out and hovered just above without his volition. Bucky couldn’t be gone, right? This was just some trick Thanos was playing on them. The real Bucky was safe and sound just behind those trees, or crouching under the overhanging rocks, or buried beneath this pile of dirt. Right? He just needed to push the ashes off him. 

He couldn’t touch them. 

“Steve,” Natasha’s voice prompted him to look up. T’Challa dissolved in front of him, Okoye screaming for him. Rocket reached out to Groot as the tree dissolved too. Rhodey’s voice echoed through the trees as he stumbled across the pile of ashes that used to be Sam. Wanda, clutching Vision’s body, looked up to the sky with a peaceful look on her face as whatever was taking them took her too. He looked back at where Bucky had been only moments ago.

Whatever this was, it was Thanos’s doing. Whatever had happened when Thor smashed his axe through Thanos’s chest and the Infinity Gauntlet exploded, had taken everyone else with it. The clank of Rhodey’s armor returned to the small clearing. “What’s going  _ on?” _

Steve finally managed to touch the ashes. They were the same temperature as the soil under them, the same uniform color, nothing to give away the person they used to be. “Oh god.”

They couldn’t--they weren’t--he--he  _ couldn’t be gone. _ They must have been transported somewhere, the ash just the remnants of whatever process used to move them. He couldn’t be  _ gone. _ He had just gotten him  _ back. _ The universe wouldn’t be so cruel as to give him his partner back just for the length of one battle. Surely, after  _ everything _ they had both been through they deserved more than frightened eyes and a pile of ashes? At least a goodbye? Just that? 

The world blurred over and he tried to fight the tears back. He failed utterly. They dropped down and mingled with the ashes and soil. A hand rested on his shoulder and its owner knelt down beside him. The blonde hair told him it was Natasha, but the rest was a blur through the tears. “Hey,” she said. “There will be time for grief, but that is not right now.”

Steve closed his eyes. “Right,” he croaked. Shakily he stood up, Natasha following him. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He surveyed the remnants of his team and their collected friends. Okoye. Rhodey. Bruce. Rocket. Thor. Natasha. “We’re assuming Tony was on the other ship that appeared in New York, right?”

“Not just assuming,” Rhodey said. “Pepper managed to talk to him for a minute before the connection cut out.”

He nodded. “Wherever Tony is, he’s probably got our best bet of figuring out what just happened. Let’s see if those ships can tell us where he might be.”

They all nodded and turned to make their way down to the destroyed ships.

“And, Avengers.” They turned back to him, curious. “We couldn’t protect the Earth. So let’s make it  _ very clear _ that Thanos can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.”

They grinned. Steve knelt back down for a moment and picked up a handful of ash. He studied it for a moment. “Don’t worry, Buck, I’m gonna find you.”

**Author's Note:**

> part two feat Tony and Peter coming when it's not midnight and i'm not half-delirious from this movie


End file.
